Partners¶

This section deals with sales to partners (B2B).

Parners are most likely legal entities who purchase big volumes of your products for special prices and are selling them to end customers.

Partner Portal¶

Partner Portal is term that describes all of the applications connected with B2B sales to your partners. Partners are legal entities who purchase big volumes of your products. You are able to create special wholesale prices for them and also another special settings, such as different payment and delivery methods, credit limit for purchases on invoice and unite them into various tiers.

To make Partner Portal work on your account, you need to have added the Parter Addon. It will add 3 new applications to your account:

Partners in the Sales module allows you to create and manage partners.
Partner Tiers in the Sales module is a hierarchical structure of particular tiers to which you can assign particular partners.
Partner Settings in the Administration module. Here you can add and manage partner agreements, to which must partners agree during the registration process.

Partners¶

Partners is an application located in the Sales module that serves for the addition and management of Partners. This application is not included in the default BizBox edition, it has to be added with an addon that will add the Partners and Partner Tiers applications to your account. In case you need these applications, please contact us for more information.

Partners are used to define different prices for particular selected customers. This can used for your B2B sales in case you want to provide your business customers with different prices. These prices are defined for a Partner Tier. Particular Partners are assigned to this tier and particular companies are assigned to a partner. Every Contact added to one of these Companies can see and purchase for the prices defined for the Partner.

If you want to use this, you have to create a Partner Portal on your website. It is very similar to the User Portal (partners can see their orders and information about their account here). To create a Partner Portal, you have to use special forms we have prepared for you. For more information about this, please see related help-pages.

For every partner, constraints for available payment and delivery methods can also be defined. The payment method Invoice is closely linked with partners - you can define a credit limit (an upper limit up to which a customer can make purchases without payment). This limit and the current invoiced amount can be (or should be!) displayed in a partner profile.

Created partner has to be assigned to a particular Partner Tier, which defines prices displayed for connected customers on your online store.

To the partner a tag (or multiple tags) can be added. To create a new tag for partners, click the Tag button in the toolbar. A new window will appear. It allows you to assign a tag to partners and display the Tag Manager in which tags are created and managed (to a tag a Name, Internal Name, Description and Color can be defined). Contacts’ tags are internal. They are not displayed to customers.

To add tags for more partners at once, use the Bulk Actions button located in the toolbar. If you are going to work with partners’ tags, add a column Tags to the Partners application. It allows you to filter partners according to assigned tags.

Create Partner¶

To create a new Partner you need to have the Partner addon allowed on your account.

Go to the Sales module and run the Partners application. Click the new button. On the General tab, the basic information is located:
- Name of the Partner can be displayed on the website (in the Partner Portal for instance) and in e-commerce templates, such as e-mails and documents.
- Comment is a short description of this Partner. It is only used for your own internal purposes and it can’t be displayed on the website or in e-commerce templates.
- External ID is a unique identification used to define the partner in an external service.
- Billing Email - define contact email address for this partner. You can use it to send emails defined in the E-shop Settings (use the order.partner.billingEmail parameter in combination with the Set Custom Recipient setting) directly to this address.
- Partner Tier selected here defines to which Partner Tiers this Partner belongs. Partner Tier defines the special checkout for partners (you can define payment and delivery methods different for a Partner Tier) and prices that will be available for customers of this Partner.
- Consignment Currency defines the main Partner’s currency. It is important in case you are going to use the Purchase for an Invoice payment method, because it defines the currency of the credit limit and the invoiced amount (this setting is available on the second Constraints tab).
- Customer Tax Category defines to which tax category all the customers of this Partner belong. Customer Tax Category defines how the taxes will be counted and you have to have already created it in the Administration module in the Customer Tax Categories application.
- Language defines a language in which you will communicate with this partner. It is used only for informative purposes (BizBox does not work with it).
- Active setting defines the current availability of the Partner. Customers assigned to inactive partners cannot use the partner features at all. These customers can normally sign into his/her account and see all information, but will be unable to place an order. When he/she tries to, a system message Your partner account is not active. Shopping is forbidden. will be displayed. It is a part of the checkout form If you want to change or translate this sentence, go to the System Translations application located in the Tools module.
On the second Constraints tab concrete payment and delivery methods can be defined which only customers from this Partner can use.
- Credit Limit setting is filled in only in case you want to allow customers to use the Invoice payment gateway. It defines the maximal amount for which a customer can purchase without a payment. If a customer reaches this limit and tries to place a new order a system message Order total amount is over you invoice credit limit. If you want to change or translate this sentence, go to the System Translations application located in the Tools module.
- Invoiced Amount displays the total amount from the credit limit defined above, that has not been paid yet. In case the order has been paid, this amount will be lowered for the paid amount automatically (according to the changes of the concrete order).
- Delivery Methods is used to select delivery methods that will be available for customers of this Partner. Methods selected in the right column will be available to the partner. If you left the right column blank, all methods will be available (according to the e-shop settings).
- Payment Methods allows you to define payment methods that can be used by the customers connected to this partner. Methods selected in the right column will be available to the partner. If you left the right column blank, all methods will be available (according to the e-shop settings).
Companies tab displays all Companies connected to this Partner. You cannot add a new Company here, you have to do this in the particular Company settings (directly on the first General tab in the Partner field).
Contacts tab displays all Contacts connected to this Partner. You cannot add a new Contact here. Contacts are assigned to a Partner through Companies. To add a new customer, you have to assign this customer to a company which is assigned to a partner.
Agreements tab displays all agreements connected to this Partner. You are able to change and add them according to your needs. Remember that particular agreements are added and edited in the Administration module in the Partner Settings application.
Orders tab displays all orders created by all customers connected to this partner. You cannot add or edit the orders displayed here.
Deals tab displays all deals connected to this partner (a deal has to be added in a contact detail).
Notes tab serves only for your own notes. If you want to add a note to the partner, do it on this tab. The inserted note is never visible to affiliates, it is only for your own purposes.
Log tab contains the log (changes) of the partner.

Import Partners¶

Partners can be imported. Prepare a XLSX or XML file using the table below. When you are done, click the Import button in the Partners application, select the file, import mode and click the Import button.

Note

Changes created by the import are not stored in a project. They will be active immediately. This import is irreversible!

Property Name (Excel or XML)	Field Name (Application)	Short Description
externalid	External ID	Optional; the external ID of the partner.
name	Name	Required; the partner name.
comment	Comment	Optional; internal commentary.
creditlimit	Credit Limit	Optional (number); defines the credit limit of the partner.
paymentduedays	Payment Due Date	Optional (number); defines the payment due date (number of days).
active	Active	Optional (boolean); defines the activity of the partner.
currency	Currency	Optional; defines the currency of the partner (ISO).
customertaxcategory	Customer Tax Category	Optional; the partner’s customer tax category (internal name).
tier	Partner Tier	Optional; the partner’s partner tier (internal name).
language	Language	Optional; the partner’s language.
paymentMethods	Payment Methods (Constraints tab)	Optional; Internal names of available payment methods; individual methods are separated by vertical bar.
carrierServices	Delivery Methods (Constraints tab)	Optional; Internal names of available delivery methods; individual methods are separated by vertical bar.

Partner Tiers¶

Partner Tiers is an application located in the Sales module which allows you to define particular tiers (levels) that your Partners or Contacts can acquire. For every tier different prices can be defined which are available for concrete customers from companies that are assigned to the Partners from this Tier. You can also add a Partner Tier for a single customer (without the connection to a Partner or Company.

You can use a special partner pricelist, price level or define a percentage sale from the standard pricelist.

In this application a hierarchical structure of all available partner tiers can be found. For the first time, only the default Root Tier is displayed. This default tier is automatically added to all partners without a selected tier. This default tier can be changed for another existing tier in the settings of a particular tier (field Default).

Tiers can be added to contacts too. Select a contact and go to its edition. Here the Partner Tier field is available. You can assign this contact to any existing partner tier. For all non-partner contacts a default tier can also be selected. If you do so, this tier will be automatically assigned to all newly registered contacts. Default partner tier for other (non-partner) contacts can be selected in a particular partner tier detail (Default for Others flag).

Mark Prices as Discounts is used in combination with the Only for Products Without Discount setting in particular sales promotion applications in the Pricing module. Set to YES (both these settings) and the particular sales promotion won’t be applied on partner prices from this tier. The price is marked as discount only if it does not come from the retail pricelist.

Apply Lower Price - use it if you do not want the price for a partner to be higher than the end-user price. If the price for an unlogged customer (on the web) is lower than the price for this partner, the price for an unlogged customer will be used. If you leave the setting off, the price will always be calculated as set in the Pricing Rules tab (it will not be affected by the end customer price).

Note

Data from Partner Tiers are not a part of the Development mode. It means that in the Development mode you are working with the real tiers in both modes. If you make a change here, it will be a part of the project changes and it will take place in case you approve the project.

Tip

Partner Tiers can be also used in combination with the Purchase Volume Discounts.

In the Partner Tiers application and also in the detail of a specific Partner Tier, the Export Prices button is available in the toolbar. With this button you can export the prices of individual products for a given tier (in the export settings you can also add other tiers, branches, zones and tax categories of customers for export).

The Rebuild Prices button only uses them for website Preview if you want to see prices for that partner in it. This is done automatically when the project is approved, so you don’t have to use the button if you don’t want to work with prices in Preview.

Create Partner Tier¶

You will probably need more than one partner tier on your account. In fact, you can have as many partner tiers as you need. Every partner tier can have its own price settings. To be able to set it up, you have to create a new tier first.

Partner Tiers can also be imported.

Click the Add button located in the toolbar and add a new tier.
- Name can be displayed in the partner portal using the {{ user.identity.partnerTier }} parameter.
- Internal Name has to be unique within the Partner Tiers application. It is used only for internal purposes.
- Label is a name of this tier that should be displayed on the website and in e-shop templates, such as e-mails and documents.
- Comment is field for short description of this tier. It is internal and is cannot be displayed on the website or to partners that belong to this tier.
- Default settings marks one tier from the hierarchy that will automatically be assigned to all partners without a defined tier. If you set this option to YES, the tier that has been marked with this flag before, will be automatically unmarked.
- Default for Others set the tier as default for all newly registered users (non partners). Only one tier can be selected as Default for others.
- Mark Prices as Discnouts is used in combination with the Only for Products Without Discount setting in particular sales promotion applications in the Pricing module. Set to YES (both these settings) and the particular sales promotion won’t be applied on partner prices from this tier. The price is marked as discount only if it does not come from the retail pricelist.
- Parent Node defines the place for this tier in the hierarchy. Select a tier here that will be directly above the created one in the hierarchy.
When you are done, a new tier will be displayed in the hierarchy. Mark it with the mouse button and click the Edit button located in the toolbar above.
On the first General tab, the information added in the previous steps can be changed.
On the second Price Rules tab, new rules for new prices are defined. You can select a special partner pricelist or define a percentage sale from normal prices.
- Use Partner Pricelist is a base setting which allows you to select a Partner Pricelist (a special type of a pricelist). This pricelist defines special prices for all partners which belongs to this tier. If you do not select any partner pricelist, prices from the regular pricelist will be used. Use Sale Price - if you use retail prices (from the regular pricelist) as the default pricelist for this tier (you do not use a partner pricelist), you can use this setting to turn off the discount application (from sales pricelists).
- Apply Discount adds a percentage discount to the pricelist selected above or to a normal e-shop prices in case you did not selected it. You can specify whether this discount will be applied to all products or only some of them (you can specify them by selecting the manufacturer, brand, product category or tag). Tag setting only applies to tags assigned directly to products and their master products (not applicable to tags assigned within the pricelist). If one product belongs to more discounts, only the highest priority discount (first in the app from the bottom) will be used. Apply Discount on Base Price setting is used to correct Base Prices – the set discounts are applied to the base price of the product and thus they are corrected. The discounts will not act as discounts, but as corrections to the price lists set above.
- Use Special Pricelist allows you to select a partner pricelist which will be used in preference to the settings above. If one product belongs to more pricelists defined here, only the highest priority pricelist (first in the app from the bottom) will be used.
- Use Sale Pricelist (Discount Applied) allows you to select a Partner Sale Pricelist. If a product has a price set in the partner sale pricelist, this price will be used preferentially (it is possible to set a time limit for validity for the price list). If the price comes from the partner sale pricelist, it will always be marked as a discount even if the Mark Prices as Discounts setting on the Partner Tier is switched off. The discount set in the Apply Discount section will be applied to these pricelists.
- Use Sale Pricelist (Without Discount) allows you to select a Partner Sale Pricelist. If a product has a price set in the partner sale pricelist, this price will be used preferentially (it is possible to set a time limit for validity for the price list). If the price comes from the partner sale pricelist, it will always be marked as a discount even if the Mark Prices as Discounts setting on the Partner Tier is switched off. The discount set in the Apply Discount section will not be applied to these pricelists.

Import Partner Tier¶

Partner Tiers can be imported. Prepare a XLSX or XML file using the table below. When you are done, click the Import button in the Partner Tiers application, select the file, import mode and click the Import button.

Property Name (Excel or XML)	Field Name (Application)	Short Description
internalName	Internal Name	Required; internal name of the partner tier.
name	Name	Required; name of the partner tier.
label	Label	Required; label of the partner tier.
parent	Parent	Required; internal name of the parent partner tier.
description	Description	Optional; description of the partner tier.
comment	Comment	Optional; comment of the partner tier.
default	Default	Optional (boolean); defines the value of the Default setting.
defaultForNonPartner	Default for Others	Optional (boolean); defines the value of the Default for Others setting.
usePartnerPriceAsDiscount	Mark Prices as Discnouts	Optional (boolean); defines the value of the Mark Prices as Discnouts setting.
useSalePrice	Use Sale Price	Optional (boolean); defines the value of the Use Sale Price setting.
useLowerPrice	Apply Lower Price	Optional (boolean); defines the value of the Apply Lower Price setting.
pricelists	Base Prices	Internal names of partner pricelists; individual pricelists are separated by vertical bar.
salePricelists	Sale Pricelists Without Discount	Internal names of partner pricelists; individual pricelists are separated by vertical bar. A discount (set in the Discounts part) will not be applied to these price lists.
specialPricelists	Special Prices	Internal names of partner sale pricelists; individual pricelists are separated by vertical bar.

Partner Settings¶

Partner Settings is an application located in the Administration module. It is available only when the Partner Addon is allowed in your BizBox Account. Otherwise you cannot use or even see this application.

It is used to define agreements, to which your partners have agreed in order to register themselves and place orders on your online store.

An agreement which exists here can be added (or edited) for a particular partner in his/her profile in the Partner application in the Sales module.

Run the application and click the Add button.
A new window appears. Define all required fields:
- Name - Insert a name of this agreement. It can be displayed on your website if you do not provide the Label (below). Otherwise is servers only for internal purposes.
- Label - Insert a name of this agreement that will be displayed to partners (in the registration and also in the Partner Portal).
- Description - Insert a short information about this agreement. It is used only for your and your co-workers information and it is not displayed to partners.
- Valid From - Define a date from which is this agreement valid. It is only informative value, it does not influence any settings or system behaviour.
- File - Select the file from the File Manager which is the agreement itself (probably a document). This document will be displayed to partners during the registration process.
- Default - This settings defines one of your agreements that will be displayed in the registration process. You can have only one default agreement at a time.